I've often wondered myself... How can you tell the difference between God's voice and Satin's? After all, Satin is the master deceiverand sometimes fills our minds with what we want to beleive is God's voice... especially when it's something that we want reallly realllly bad.

So how do you know?

I asked around, and the most common answer was to 'listen to your heart'... but thats not good enough for me, because my heart doesn't always hear what it should, but what it wants to hear. Then someone told me this... I(I dont even recall who it was, but I remember his words)....

Satin is the not only the master deceiver, he is also the master of confusion. When your heart is troubled and confused, dont jump the gun and push for 'an answer to your prayers'. Be patient, because when God answers, there will be no confusion.

I'm curious... what do you all think about this advice that was given to me? Or do you have more words of wisdom to add??? I'm interested in hearing your opinions.

49Comments

This may simplify things for you.....Think back to when your heard the voice of someone you didn't like, despised , felt negative feelings for, what did hearing their voice do to you on the inside and how they said things. And Secondly think back to the voice of a person you dearly loved and think of how you felt when they spoke to you and how they said things.....

Now when you ever get confused think of these two examples when you search for the ansers toy our questions.......
You will never hear the lord, but feel him and see the answer in your heart and mind, trust me Satan may be a good cross dresser but he can never give you a good feeling , or an encouraging feeling.. Open your mind and heart and pray and you will always know, it takes practice just like everything else, don't be lazy , pray and open up your heart and mind.

The gospel of John chapter 1 says "In the begining was the word and the word was with God" The bible is Gods word. If you want to here is word read starting with the new testament right on thru like a book and you will hear His voice, It is a small quiet voice full of peace.

This is a very good question and I too
have often wondered how can you really tell the difference when dealing with
the world's greatest deceiver. It is
already a daily struggle and battle to
make the right decisions that we are ALL
faced with, but overall it does come down to your HEART. The Lord warns us
about the deceiver, but I am sure anything that can remotely come close to
something that you "know" would not benefit you,all parties involved or whatever the situation may be, and it is telling you to go for it anyway...is
usually a Bad thing. The Lord will NEVER tell you to do wrong and there is no such thing as a "Half-good". I agree with your friend and listening to what your heart is telling you.

toketee write: I've often wondered myself... How can you tell the difference between God's voice and Satin's? After all, Satin is the master deceiverand sometimes fills our minds with what we want to beleive is God's voice... especially when it's something that we want reallly realllly bad.

So how do you know?

I asked around, and the most common answer was to 'listen to your heart'... but thats not good enough for me, because my heart doesn't always hear what it should, but what it wants to hear. Then someone told me this... I(I dont even recall who it was, but I remember his words)....

Satin is the not only the master deceiver, he is also the master of confusion. When your heart is troubled and confused, dont jump the gun and push for 'an answer to your prayers'. Be patient, because when God answers, there will be no confusion.

I'm curious... what do you all think about this advice that was given to me? Or do you have more words of wisdom to add??? I'm interested in hearing your opinions.

toketee

One way to know if you are hearing God's voice or Satan's voice or even just your on desires is by know what the Bible says. Some things are no brainers... If the voice you hear is saying kill kill! That's not God. But, thing like relationships and direction for your daily life, we make that difficult when it really doesn't have to be. By having a relationship with God (and for me, my relationship has come through Jesus Christ). By endeavoring every day to hear from God through His Word and by talking with God, I'm more able to distinguish between the voices. But if you want to know if it's God, you just need to know it it lines up with the Bible. Peace!

Dee738 write: Well, I was trying my level best to stay out of this one, because religion and politic topics are akin to grabbing a lightning flash by the tail, but I am weak and have no self-control, so here goes.

I respect that people will believe things other than what I do. Good for them and more power to them.

But why is it acceptable for people to try and explain and back up their beliefs, to "save" the non-christians; yet when a non christian turns the tables and does the same, they are being "narrow minded" etc?

It seems as if there is an expected double standard, which I find rather fascinating and contradictory.

I hear what you are saying. I'm a Christian and I think everyone should be able to respectfully express their feelings and opinion feeling put down. That where you are a follower of Christ or not. If I don't ascribe to what you believe, or if you don't ascribe to what I believe, that doesn't make anyone of us better that the other. I'm always very mindful about when I reply about issues of faith, because sometimes there are those who are just looking for an argument. While I'll never claim to know everything there is to know about life, people, God or the Bible I am confident about what I believe and so I can read or hear others opinions and not be bothered if they aren't my own.

You have to ignore the voices and do what you know is rite. God forgives many things and following what you know is rite instead of something from an un known source like a voice from no where is something I'm sure an enlighten all knowing being like god would understand. Might help to read the bible to... If god wanted something from you he would make it so obvious that It would be imposable to deny...I think.

As a Minister of the Gospel, we (Christians) all have that one thing in common, Faith. We believe that God truly is the Creator of this world and inspired about 40 different men to write His Words. Over the thousands of years in those 66 books, the one thing is clear, that the belief in God and the faith that we will someday be with Him in His Kingdom. As for others, I am not judging anyone, but have you ever considered the possibility's that when your body dies, what might happen. I have seen and personally experienced the hands of God change things. I know we are not here to teach theology, but in order for any person to truly know a subject to make opinions, one must study the subject to a point where you can truly discount any points to it. For example, I don't know how this computer truly operates with microchips and so forth, but I have faith that when I log on, it will do what I ask of it. Please don't be so closed minded, seek the truth and do not allow others to hamper your own decisions. God Bless!

Well I didn't read the whole thread (too long) ;) but I agree with the one lady who said that Scripture tells us to test the spirits. The Holy Spirit would never tell you to do something contrary to the Word of God so you can always test it against His Word. ;)

Theophrastus write: Oo-kay. Arguments by analogy clearly lost on Jaton.

LoL...figure of speach there theo...as some may put it "being a smartie". I understand what you were talking about and see your point of view. Just trying to get others views on things. Moving on theo. Not really concerned about analogys, just what you believe.

Well, I was trying my level best to stay out of this one, because religion and politic topics are akin to grabbing a lightning flash by the tail, but I am weak and have no self-control, so here goes.

I respect that people will believe things other than what I do. Good for them and more power to them.

But why is it acceptable for people to try and explain and back up their beliefs, to "save" the non-christians; yet when a non christian turns the tables and does the same, they are being "narrow minded" etc?

It seems as if there is an expected double standard, which I find rather fascinating and contradictory.

ok, I'm hearing the message from GOD here to make a post. I was raised a christian, went to Sunday school every Sunday until I was a young adult. I've read some of the bible, not all of it. I've memorized all the well known scriptures. I know and practice all the rituals associated with Christianity. I studied science in college, which had me questioning the existence of a GOD. I'm glad I had the opprotunity of being raised a christian, thus being able to make an educated choice. I won't open the creationism vs evolution can of worms. I also studied comparitive religion. I pretty much learned that religion and all the rituals, parables, traditions, fables,myths(whatever you choose to call it)associated with religion...is a necessity for human existence. This is obvious by the fact that it has lasted 2000 years plus. If you look at all the art history of the last 2000 years, it conveys that humans need to have direction in how to accept the meaning of life and death. I made a choice at that point to remain a christian. It has only been a positive influence in my life. There is a sense of community and people taking care of people, especially those who are homeless. I respect all religions, and those who make their own choices. As for women not being ordained, thats a crock. The bible is full of parables, not to be taken literally, but for a moral lesson.

ok..this is good. We are seeing what others believe. Ok. this is for everyone. Just asking here. How was earth created? Where did man come from? I am just seeing others beliefs. And no theo i am not talking about license plates and looking thru the window and noticing them and what they have to do with comparisons to the earths axis and position......lol.

As for lushess, Before you quote on something, make sure you have a backup answer for the answers i gave. Not once did i see you write what you believed in if we pass away or why the earth was tilted on such a perfect axis. You see my belief...lets here what you believe.

I believe that when we die, it's exactly what it was like before we were born. Nothingness. Forever dreamless sleep. Now, I am the first to admit that I couldn't possibly know if I'm right about that.. because I've never died before. Then again, no one else alive on the planet with any other ideas could be certain they're right either.

As for earth's "perfect axis".. well, all I've got to say, is a) I'm not a master of physics or astronomy and b) who says it's perfect? There are parts of the world where it is difficult, if not impossible to sustain life beyond the level of micro-organisms. So, not really perfect. Also, how do you know that there aren't thousands of other solar systems with planets similar to earth elsewhere in our universe? There are studies being done with the Hubble telescope right now.. over 100 new "candidate planets" have been pinpointed around other stars in our very own galaxy. And that's just the beginning. Any number of them may sustain life.. we just don't have the technology to find out.. yet.

Ya know...for once i agree theo. Nothing is getting accomplished by me trying to explain why there is a god and you explaining why there isnt. The only reason i had posted the first time, was because someone had commented on the bible. Not to get into a debate on whether the bible is for real or whether god is there or not. You simply believe it or not.

As for lushess, Before you quote on something, make sure you have a backup answer for the answers i gave. Not once did i see you write what you believed in if we pass away or why the earth was tilted on such a perfect axis. You see my belief...lets here what you believe.

Theophrastus write: *Sigh* Yes because obviously the way to debate science is to go in with nothing more than a vague understanding and that collection of unjustified assumptions known as common sense.

I'm not going to get drawn into debating the minutiae of Jaton's justifications for his belief because I've served my time on religious debate boards (I still have an alt-atheism number somewhere) and in my experience they never yield anything of interest and the same arguments come up time and again. I'm not going to convince Jaton of anything by taking his points apart. It's all about dominance and frankly I can live without that.

My original post in support of Lushus still stands. The christian presence on these boards is arrogant and smug and judgemental and it's necessary to challenge it because this place is not exactly hospitable to atheists, agnostics or anyone who isn't an american fundamentalist christian.

The christians who have joined in this little love fest have proved my point better than I could ever have. Arrogant, smug, judgemental and aggressive (particularly the pic-less wonder who slates atheists for being closed minded and lonely and then says that she's not judging anyone... classy).

Thank you.... you're exemplary christians.

I think I was one of the first ones to say that I didn't make a very good Christian. My original post in here was out of anger, and if anyone has noticed, my tone has changed.

Common sense... honestly? It's not very common these days, and I think we've ALL have witnessed examples of that.

Science... it's not very hard to debate it considering that believing in it requires faith that the units of measurement used are exact and that one new discovery doesn't totally trash the foundation you already have. You also have to have faith that each theory is fundamentally sound and that it can hold up to repeated testing.

I don't discount science, by any means. One day, God's existence WILL be proven. Just pay attention to what happens over the next seven years.

Let's play "What If?" for a second:

"What If?"

The measurements for carbon dating were incorrect?

God used evolution to create new species? Throw a little intelligent design in there to make it more plausible.

Man and dinosaur actually walked the earth the same time?

And speaking of the Earth; what if it really was less than 10,000 years old, instead of the 4.6 or so Billion regularly quoted?

And last, and this is way out there past Pluto, but something I just thought of after reading somewhere a couple weeks ago (I think it was M S N) that a 10th planet may have been found and considering we have that asteroid belt out there... what if there were originally 12 planets?